Hoax Alert: WhatsApp will not notify

WhatsApp will not notify you when someone takes a screenshot of your chat. A humor-based website, 8shit, announced on January 23 that WhatsApp will let others know if you take a screenshot of the conversation from February 5.

It even made the story look legitimate by posting a reportedly fake quote of the CEO Jan Koum stating, “The functioning is simple, just like the blue tick:

You will have the option activated by default. If it’s checked, you’ll be notified if someone screenshots your conversation, and others will be notified if you screenshot theirs. If it’s unchecked, no one gets notified”,

This news has been going viral on social media and freaking people out as many people take screenshots of the chat from instant messaging app to save it for later or share it with others. Many stalkers have lost their sleep over this. Other websites are also sharing it without confirming its legitimacy first, including many Pakistani websites and Facebook Pages.

There is no such statement, whatsoever, from Jan Koum. Also, there are no such reports on official WhatsApp blog. The disclaimer on 8shit states, “8Shit is a satire news and humor website. All its content is fiction (except those under the “serious” category) and shouldn’t be taken as real. All references, names and marks or institutions in this web are used as contextual elements, like in any novel or science-fiction story.”

Same kind of story made rounds last year which claimed that Instagram sent a notification for taking a screenshot of picture of a user. Later, it was revealed that Instagram only notified if the screenshot of an ephemeral story was taken, not of pictures. All this evidence points to just one thing i.e., this story is nothing but a hoax. Users should not believe everything they read on the internet until there is an official statement.